It's 6 AM in paradise what the hell am I doing up?

What a beautiful morning! The sun is streaming in the windows and the birds are chirping. We are going to Dominical today where I hope to find a bird feeder or something so I can start attracting them to the yard. We have been here a week now. I am sloooooowwwwwwlllllly getting accustomed to my surroundings. We live in a neighborhood that has some really shacky shacks, but also some nice homes. At first all I saw was the shacks, but looking around I am now seeing some of the beauty here. This week has been really busy. The house is pretty on the outside since it was painted, but inside it was Costa Rica green. Think the green that was so popular in the 50's. Nice for a blender, putrid for every painted surface in the house. So we are painting the inside sunny yellow. I got the primer tinted, so I have a pretty good idea of how the house is going to look when we are done. What a difference a coat of paint makes!

We also got the dining room furniture yesterday. I got a table with really funky chairs and a cabinet that spans the kitchen for about $500. The table was custom made since the one that came with the chairs was too big for the space. It is round with a glass center. It also appears too big, but we are leaving it in the kitchen for now. If it becomes cumbersome the guest room off of the kitchen can become the dining room. I think it will work out fine that way.

I have been learning tons, for example there is a red waxy substance that they use on cement floors here called ochre. It is preety cool if you can live with the red color since passing a broom over it shines the floor and it always looks good. The drawback I found is that a wet white dog will roll all over the floor to dry himself which produces a damp pink dog. Not a manly look for our Diego.

We went to the market the other day. I felt like a little kid. Every 2 seconds I was asking Mario - what is this? We bought some really odd food though. Some of it I like, some not so much. We got the oven on Friday but it is still not installed because we are painting. Mario worked all day yesterday on installing the washer and dryer. Also still not installed. It reminded me how different it is here.

Dad - this story is for you. Mario's brother Danillo had this house before and said there is a 220 line on the porch for the dryer. We didn't see one, but Mario thought that this one outlet MIGHT be 220 since the wires were thicker. His father came over and confirmed that the workmen who had done some of the work on the house had plugged the saw into the outlet and it had sparked and smoked so yup that's the 220 line. We went to the hardware store and got a new outlet when we got the dryer cord so no one makes that mistake again!

Next came connections for the washer. There was a PVC pipe sticking out of the ground with a cap on it. You guessed it, that needs a spigot and is the water pipe. We called Danillo over to find the drainage pipe. Apparently since this is not sewage, the pipe runs along the side of the house into the drainage ditch at the side of the road. Mario dug until he found the end of the pipe and then went and got the couplings we needed to connect a piece of PVC that someone had laying around to the existing drainage pipe. No permits, no calling experts, just do it. Weird, but somehow fullfilling knowing you control your own house. Of course I am praying we don't get electricuted when we plug in the dryer. Oh yeah, we threw the main to connect the 220 outlet. The "main" is outside the front of the house it is a lever near the dangerous looking wires.

I am off to enjoy the best coffee I have ever had since I hear Mario's parents have stopped their morning prayers! Have a great day!